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MESSAGE TO PM’S WIFE

16/03/2014 06:40:00 By Jan Sthole

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By the time you read this article, Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini would have been hitched and will be officially off the market. Hopefully, he will be enjoying honeymoon bliss somewhere as far away from the Cabinet offices as possible.

From what I have seen, there is nothing remotely romantic about Cabinet, especially if one is in a new relationship that needs tender nurturing.
I want to be the first to congratulate the prime minister for finding a life partner.
Scripture tells us that a man who finds a wife finds good treasure.

From the prime minister’s behaviour in recent months, one is left with no doubt that Joy (hereinafter referred to as Lady Joy) will be a good treasure to this man who would have, sooner, suffered more from loneliness than the stress of his office. I would like to congratulate them both for finding each other and love.
I congratulate the prime minister even more for following strict social and religious etiquette as he courted the woman whom today has become his wife. Cha, Nkhosi, ukhetse kahle!
The respect and humility you displayed towards the love of your life and her family and the church left me speechless.

To anyone who cares about how things are done, these were useful social lessons worthy of emulation by those young men who are yet to get hitched if they are ever fortunate enough to find their own partners.
I am sure I speak on behalf of my family, and my Inkhundla of Manzini North of which I am MP and SWADEPA of which I am its president, when I say congratulations to the newly-weds.
May the many years that lie ahead be filled with nothing else except love and marital bliss.
To Lady Joy, I have a mission for you, if you choose to accept it.

You will by now know that your husband has a difficult and stressful job to perform as PM.
This job entails making serious decisions, not just any decision but the right ones. It involves building bridges between different people of varying and divergent opinions so that there is peace and productivity in the land.
It is the prime minister’s job to ensure there is fairness and fair play in the land by ensuring that the weak and meek do not become the stomping ground for the strong and mighty.
To achieve this, we do not need strong men but strong and independent institutions that will be free of interference from elsewhere.
The PM is the one to set the tone from the top, so that it permeates to every sphere of this nation.

However, it cannot be a tone of aggression and hostility because, by its very nature, aggression denotes weaknesses on the part of the propagator.
We need the sort of tone that inspires and rallies all Swazis to commit themselves to nation building.
Most importantly, the work of the PM involves building a prosperous and peaceful nation that is able to talk to itself and sometimes even laugh at itself.
It is a terribly difficult job that needs a wise man filled with humility.

I think Dlamini is wise.
The job also demands a servant’s servant with a willing heart to serve not only the elite or ruling class but the small man in the street who makes a meagre living but is still able to meet his citizenship obligations by paying his taxes every month.
We know that wisdom comes from above.
To meet these demands and expectations, and to survive the stresses that come with the job, the PM needs a trusted companion who will enjoy his ear.
This person can only be the PM’s wife.
Lady Joy will, henceforth, become the trusted advisor or the first port of call for the PM, which is why, as from today, her needs will be expensed to the State.

Decisions

She will guide the PM towards making the right decisions and help him build his proud legacy, which may not have been possible if he had not had a wife to help him navigate the treacherous path of political office.
I would therefore request Lady Joy to approach the prime minister on my behalf on a number of issues, which I shall list below. This is for after the honeymoon is over of course.
The first request is that she whispers to the PM that we have a duty and obligation as a nation to adhere to the Constitution as our declared Supreme law as stated in Section 2 thereof.
This request cannot be met if there is no enabling legislation, yet the global village we live in measures us on the basis of compliance to our own declared constitution.

I am afraid very little has been done to make citizens enjoy most of the good the constitution grants them. When other multinational institutions, to which we are members on voluntary basis, remind us that we are not complying with our own commitments including some constitutional dictates, they are not interfering with the country’s sovereignty.
Also, when these institutions begin to remind us, the best thing is to comply.
We also thank His Majesty for assenting to this supreme blueprint and roadmap of rights and obligations of the nation. It is now the duty of government to make it a living document and see to it that its dictates are accessible to the citizens.

In the past, the political will to give effect to the Constitution has been conspicuously absent.
In fact, it has been non-existent.
For instance, our constitution guarantees every citizen the right of assembly and association.
This right is denied at every available opportunity because the enabling legislation is not there.
That is why people’s heads are likely to be bashed whenever they choose to exercise their right of assembly.

The prime minister can correct this tomorrow if he wanted to - and we would not need spend millions of Emalangeni trying to protect our AGOA status as a result. It is obviously cheaper to comply than to justify.
As a country we try to defend ourselves too often and at a great expense to the national treasury.
Maybe it is time we took a mirror and looked at ourselves to address any of our blemishes.

The constitution guarantees every citizen the right of expression.
Some people may argue that this right is not denied, as long as people speak in their own private homes.
This is mischievous because the right to be heard implies being heard by those who hold sway to power.
The import of this is that every citizen must be entitled to air his views on national radio or TV without logistical impediments being introduced to render that right null and void.
As we speak right now, getting to speak on our tax-funded national radio station is a preserve of the few.

As citizens and fully-fledged partners in this kingdom, it is ridiculous to seek permission before one can speak something which one thinks is of public interest.
If the right is persistently denied as no doubt it is at present, we need legislation which will liberalise the airwaves so that we can have competition in the market.

It is utterly boring to see and hear the same people over and over again on television or radio respectively, as if they have anything important to say, which the nation cannot live without.
We need to hear differing voices and diverse opinions, which will challenge all Swazis to think without developing a one-track mind.
As we march to the First World we need to embrace our differences because, as one leader of a First World country once remarked, it is through our differences that we are truly one.
I hope Lady Joy can whisper that message into our PM’s ear.

I have this good feeling that he’d sooner accept this good message from his lovely wife than from someone else.
Once again, congratulations boNkhosi and may God bless your union.
I would have announced my good wishes over the radio if there was no need to fill out endless forms and secure permission slips from all over the place.